The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed emulates an entire network from the radio to the core, which lets engineers insert and test 5G hardware and software anywhere in the network. EE World visited IEEE in June 2025 for a meeting and demonstration in the video below.
Suppose you design IoT devices that you want to connect to a 5G network. Even if you design in a precertified 5G module, you still need to test how well your device works with a network. What if you design small-cell radios or develop xApps for Open RAN networks? What if you develop network components or 5G core network software? In all of these cases, you need to test your product using a simulated network before connecting it to a live network. You can hire a test lab or you can use expensive test equipment. Instead, you can use the IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed.
Under the leadership of IEEE member/volunteers Ashutosh Dutta and Anwer Al-Dulaimi, IEEE has developed a mostly open-source, cloud-based digital twin of a complete 5G network. You can, for a subscription fee, use the tool to test hardware or software at any point of the network, from the radio to the core. Think of the testbed as hardware or software in the loop for telecom. EE World visited the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, NJ on June 2, 2025 where I met with testbed program director Brad Kloza and product manager Naresh Babu. While Kloza and Babu run the testbed, they received help and guidance from the testbed’s steering committee.
Figure 1. The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed is a cloud-based system of mostly open-source software that emulates a network. Users can insert their hardware or software network components anywhere in the network for testing.
Figure 1 shows a diagram of the 5G/6G Innovation Testbed, which consists of software components that emulate a complete network. Because it’s cloud based, the testbed lets you use it from anywhere. “It’s a fully virtual end-to-end 5G network in the cloud,” said Kloza.
Each company or university subscribing to the testbed has its own account that consists of a unique copy of the testbed software and cloud resources. Because many of the testbed’s components are open-source, users can customize it. For example, you can develop your own network slice or use case. Making changes will not affect other users outside of your account. “We clone the virtual network, we set it aside, and we assign it to each account,” said Kloza. “Each account has an administrator who can assign logins to staff, faculty, or students as needed. If a company or university has algorithms that they want to see how they interact in the network, they can upload those algorithms into their version of the testbed.”
Kloza explained how he starts each potential user interaction: “What are you working on and what are you looking to accomplish in the testbed?” Doing so lets IEEE set up and deliver a unique instance of the testbed for each trial version.
Testbed capabilities
At the time of my visit, the 5G/6G Innovation Testbed consisted of the following capabilities with others in development.
- Network Slicing
- Ran-intelligent controller (RIC) integration and xApps support
- Test orchestration
- Cloud orchestration
- CAMARA API support
- Closed loop automation and lifecycle management
- Multi-cluster Orchestration
- Audio/video Calls
- Video streaming with multi-access edge computing (MEC, formerly multi-edge computing) platform
- Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK)-based User-Plane Function (UPF) integration
- Integration of physical Open RAN
- Private 5G networks
- Metrics monitoring
- Energy metrics
- Traffic control
Figure 2. The testbed uses an NI software-defined radio as the air interface for testing 5G devices that have radios.
Connecting a wireless device such as a cell phone or IoT device to the testbed requires an air interface. Figure 2 shows an NI USRP B210 Cognitive Radio. Figure 3 shows two cell phones connected to the testbed.
Testbed components
Networks have many components and designing a virtual network means integrating those components. Figure 1 gives a high-level view of the major components: The user equipment, the radio-access network (RAN), and the 5G core. The testbed supports Open RAN, where developers of distributed units, centralized units, and xApps can test within the virtual network.
The 5G/6G Innovation Testbed includes the following open-source and proprietary software:
- Kubernetes open-source container orchestration software that automates application deployment, scaling, and management.
- CAMARA open-source software provides telecom APIs that enable seamless access to telco network capabilities. CAMARA APIs can directly interact with the 5G Core network.
- FlexRIC, open-source software that enables xApp testing and development in Open RAN
- OBS Studio, open-source software that helps with video streaming and video recording
- AMCOP from Aarna Networks, a proprietary multi-cluster orchestration and cloud management tool
- Niksun NetMobility, a proprietary 5G network monitoring security tool
- Grafana, open-source customizable metrics reporting dashboard
- Open Speed Test, open-source network speed test software
- Kamailio, open-source SIP server
- srsRAN and OpenAirInterface, open-source Open RAN 5G cores
- Scapy, open-source packet manipulation program and library
- UERANSIM, open-source 5G UE and RAN (gNodeB) simulator
- Open5GS, open-source 5G core
Figure 3. Two cellphones under test connect to the Testbed through the software-defined radio.
“With this growing set of tools, you can directly set up and run a wide range of network scenarios and use cases, like network-slicing, denial-of-service attacks, quality of service modification, and more,” said Kloza.
IEEE also offers what they call the Test Bench – an add-on environment in partnership with Rebaca Technologies of California. The Test Bench provides users with a powerful test orchestration environment with hundreds of pre-scripted test cases that are especially useful for companies working on core network functions and Open RAN software.
Demonstration video
The IEEE Testbed’s development engineers developed a testbed user interface that lets users customize testing and can connect to the hardware or software under test. Because most of the testbed software is open-source, engineers can customize it. All IP developed with the testbed remains property of the testbed user.
Kloza explained how the dashboard gives you a live view of the virtual network, which includes what’s connected, what’s running, how many users are connected, how much traffic is running through, and so on. The video shows examples of the user interface and use cases such as network slicing, DDoS attack simulation and tracing, and a video/streaming example of how interference can affect video quality and how network APIs can compensate for it. In the video recorded following EE World’s visit, Brad Kloza gives a demonstration of the user interface and use cases.
Beyond testing
While engineers, students, and researchers can use the IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed for testing how hardware and software interact with a network, they can also use it to showcase and demonstrate IP for management, customers, or professors. Students can use the testbed as a learning tool and demonstrate their work.
The testbed can let more than one person or organization operate within a single environment while still maintaining its privacy and security. “On the research side,” said Kloza, “students can investigate network optimizations or new functions. This is where students or groups of students with their faculty members are using the testbed to experiment with new technologies and publish their results.”
Currently used for testing 5G hardware and software, the IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed will eventually let engineers, students, and researchers test 6G network components and equipment. “Although the Testbed currently is based on 5G standards and testing, it can be modified to become a 6G testing platform,” said Kloza.
